Individuals with Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) must periodically administer insulin to sustain their physiological conditions. Some persons with diabetes, other than T1DM patients, might also require administration of insulin. Typically, these patients administer doses of either fast-acting or slow-acting insulin using needle type syringes, for example, prior to meals or exercising, and/or at suitable times throughout the course of each day. The administration of insulin is often performed contemporaneously with the testing of a patient's blood glucose level where such level is measured discretely using fingerstick testing or continuously using an in vivo sensor. If insulin is not appropriately administered, the diabetic patient risks serious damage to the body which may result in death.
Continued developments and improvements in recent years have made infusion device therapy, such as external infusion pump therapy, much more appealing to persons with diabetes due to the added flexibility and freedom it offers and the improvement in regulating and controlling insulin levels on an ongoing basis. The infusion devices, such as external infusion pumps, are typically connected to an infusion set, which includes a cannula, that is placed transcutaneously through the skin of the patient and infusion tubing which fluidly connects the cannula to the infusion device. An insulin infusion device is often used in conjunction with periodic discrete testing by the patient of his or her current glucose levels using an in vitro blood test strip and a blood glucose meter such as the Freestyle® and Precision® blood glucose monitoring systems available from Abbott Diabetes Care Inc., of Alameda, Calif. The infusion device may also be used with a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system in which a glucose sensor is transcutaneously positioned in the subcutaneous tissue of a patient, and the continuously monitored glucose levels are transmitted, often wirelessly, from the sensor to a receiver unit by way of a skin-mounted sensor control unit, e.g., the FreeStyle Navigator® continuous glucose monitoring system from Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. The infusion device may be configured to communicate with the CGM system wirelessly or via a wired connection. Alternatively, the infusion device and CGM control unit may be integrated in the same device housing and share user interface mechanisms (i.e., a common display and input keys) and certain functionalities including data storage and processing.
Use of such infusion devices involves the administration of insulin to the patient throughout the day based on preprogrammed patterns, referred to as basal profiles. The basal profiles are generally determined by a physician based on a number of factors, including the patient's insulin sensitivity and other physiological conditions, and are intended to maintain, as accurately as possible, the patient's glucose levels over a predetermined time period. The infusion devices also include databases and computational capabilities to assist the patient in determining if and when additional insulin doses, referred to as bolus doses, are required by the patient. Such dosages include carbohydrate boluses and correction boluses to accommodate for meals and exercise.
The infusion devices and/or analyte monitoring systems typically include a user interface which includes an input mechanism such as buttons and/or a thumb wheel through which the patient may program and control the infusion device. The user interface also typically includes a display which is configured to display digital and graphical information relevant to the patient's infusion progress and the status of various components of the device, as well as other programmable information such as patient-specific basal profiles and bolus doses. In the course of using the analyte monitoring system and the infusion device, data associated with a patient's physiological condition such as monitored analyte levels or insulin dosage information, for example, may be stored and processed. As the complexity of these systems and devices increase, so do the amount of data and information associated with them.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to have a user interface for a diabetes management system or device that provides the user with greater control, functionality, and convenience. It would be additionally advantageous to provide such a user interface, which does not require visual or auditory feedback, to ensure the patient's privacy in managing his or her diabetes.